"Part of the problem with bilingual education is that it is not just a
curriculum issue -- it's a political and national- identity issue," Hakuta
said. "That's what makes everybody an 'expert' on it. Everyone has some
ownership in this issue."

Citing the work of other educators and linguists, Hakuta described two
kinds of bilingualism.

In "subtractive bilingualism," the new language supplants the native
language. This kind of bilingualism is usual among successive U.S. immigrant
generations, who eventually become monolingual English-speakers.

With "additive bilingualism," the native language is maintained while the
second language is used for enrichment. For example, English-speakers in
Quebec often learn French to upgrade business skills. For these bilinguals, a
second language is often seen as prestigious.

In the United States, Hakuta said, subtractive bilingualism is the goal we
often set for those whose native language is viewed as a barrier to academic
and economic success -- Hispanics, Vietnamese, Filipinos and others. Additive
bilingualism -- whether in Latin, classical Greek, French, Italian or other
languages -- is seen as an academic boon for non-minority, middle- class
students.

"We see bilingualism as good for some children, but not for others," said
Hakuta. "Expectations about the speed of second- language learning are
different, too."

In middle-class French immersion classes, for example, "expectations are
not that severe," Hakuta said. Even after several years, a student is not
expected to be a fluent speaker of the new language.

But Asian or Hispanic immigrant children are often viewed as failures
"unless we can get them out of bilingual instruction in two or three years."

One alumna participating in the class, Patricia Montiel Overall (PhD '78),
said that Tucson school boards are mandating foreign language instruction for
grades K-8, yet striving to take away the first language of non-English
speakers.

"Foreign language education and bilingual education have been seen as
totally different things," she said.

Hakuta suggested that hostility toward bilingual education may be rooted
in racial and ethnic prejudices and the conviction that immigrants "aren't as
smart" as Americans. Such attitudes go back to the 1920s and 1930s, when
Eastern and Southern European immigrants flooded America.

C.C. Brigham, in Study of American Intelligence (1923), chronicled the
declining IQ scores of successive military recruitments after blacks and
foreign-born whites were drafted. Hakuta said the study concluded that "we
should restrict immigration to prevent the degradation of intelligence."

A 1926 study by F.J. Goodenough showed that the more a native language is
retained in the home, the lower the IQ scores. The study reached two
conclusions: that retention of a foreign language is the "chief factor in
producing mental retardation," and that "national groups whose average
intellectual ability is inferior do not readily learn the new language."

Refuting myths

Although today's attitudes may not be as overtly racist, they may be just
as faulty, Hakuta said. He cited what he called linguistic myths, such as,
"Hispanics are refusing to learn English."

Hakuta said that Hispanics, in particular, are often accused of "clinging"
to their language and creating "linguistic ghettos" -- the same accusation,
he noted, that was once leveled at Russian Jews. However, he said, research
shows that Spanish as a home language declines markedly with the children of
the first U.S.-born Hispanics, just as it does for other languages and ethnic
groups.

Hakuta cited the work of a census demographer who predicted that, barring
new immigration, the number of Spanish speakers will remain constant for the
next 15 years, then decline precipitously until Spanish assumes the same
status as other immigrant languages in the United States, "which is really
hard to believe until you look at the research."

The perception that Hispanics are stubbornly retaining their monolingual
Spanish status, Hakuta said, is caused by continual waves of new immigrants
to the United States from Mexico and Central and South America.

Another myth holds that "children are "linguistic sponges."

Hakuta said research shows that children need between 2 and 7 years to
master enough English to benefit from English- language instruction.

A similar myth is that "the younger children are, the faster they learn a
second language." In fact, Hakuta said, although younger children are better
able to acquire the accent of a second language, older students are better
able to master grammar, vocabulary and comprehension -- that is, to attain a
working knowledge of the new language.

For this reason, Hakuta deplored the lack of bilingual programs for
middle- and high school students, who are also more "ready to appreciate
their heritage and language -- and the employment benefits bilingualism might
offer."

"I'd like to see, for example, language issues brought up by high school
social studies teachers," he said.

Hakuta praised one Salinas high school teacher who shows her students
"people who make a living by being bilingual" -- for example, court
interpreters and translators. She helps her Hispanic students translate
course materials into Spanish for the benefit of those who speak no English
at all. Recently, she also helped her students translate and dub a
Smithsonian documentary on artist Diego Rivera.

On the question, "When is a language 'acquired'?" Hakuta said the public
also underestimates the complexity of language acquisition. Enough English to
hold a conversation may not be enough English to attend an algebra class.

"To be 'proficient,' to be 'fluent,' to 'know' means different things,"
Hakuta said. "Bilingual children are often informally evaluated in
conversational skills, but not in how well they can use English in schools."

These evaluations are often motivated by political pressures to get
children out of bilingual programs and into mainstream English instruction.

According to Hakuta, the aims of current bilingual education are
"extremely ambiguous at best." Rather than capitalizing on the strengths of
true bilingualism, most are designed to create monolingual English-speakers
as quickly as possible.

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